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Denmark has a long tradition for written  texts. Already in the 17th  century books and hymns were published. In the 19th century two of the most famous Danish writers were born, H.C. Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard.
H.C.Andersen wrote fairy tales that are still known all  over the world. They are translated into many languages among others Turkish (http://www2.kb.dk/elib/hcaeventyrbog/).

 Søren Kierkegaard was a philosopher who also wrote fiction. He is the father of existentialism and he too is translated into turkish and many other languages.

During the 20th century two Danish writers won the Nobel Prize in literature; Henrik Pontoppidan and Johannes V. Jensen.

Todays Danish literature is a mixture of poetry, novels, short stories and other kinds of short prose. The internationally best known  writers as for example Jens Christian Grøndahl and Ib Michael sell  hundreds of thousands of novels whereas only a few Danish poets can  live on their writing. One of the few good selling poets actually lives in Turkey. His name is Henrik Nordbrandt.

In Denmark you can get a well esteemed education as a writer from the  Writers School in Copenhagen.

Many young Danish writers start their  career from this school.

Danes do not only read Danish writers, they are fond of  authors from  all over the worl and a lot of literature is translated into Danish every year. Of course most of these books are in English, but also  Turkish literature as well as writers from other countries are translated and read by the Danes.

Denmark is primarily created by the last ice age on the northern hemisphere. Huge amounts of clay, sand, gravle and stone were led from Scandinavia to what became Denmark. The last ice age ended 14.000 years ago.

In the middle of Denmark is the island of Funen situated. It has been formed by ice and meltwater and therefor it is lowlands with low hills and valleys. Right after the iceage the climate was cold but now it is temperate oceanic climate. The island was to become a fertile place easy for people to live. Nowadays Funen is characterised by 6000 years of agriculture. Today the farming is very intensiv. A lot of the island is cultivated and it is called the garden of Denmark.

Funen is apart from farms and greenhouses also beatiful coastlines, forests, meadows, lakes and watercourses. Funen is sorrounded by a lot of small islands which are green and fair from the month of May till October. On Funen we make a big effort to recreate and protect some of the original nature to avoid the strong impact from heavy farming and industry.

Even though only a few people are directly emplyed with farming, you can still find traces of the life the old farmers led.

Also the wildlife is interesting because thousands of migratory birds pass over the island on their way north in the spring and south in the autumn.

We have to learn from each other to get wiser. If you travel you will get to know other peoples and also yourself.

The Ladbyskibet viking chieftain burial site is located in Ladby, Denmark on the island of Funen, just West of the town of Kerteminde. The Ladbyskibet burial site is the only viking burial site in Denmark, and has helped give a more exact picture of what life - and death - was like around 950 AD, in the middle of the viking age.
This is the burial of a viking chieftain. Men of such high rank and position was given a very elaborate send-off to the next life. The ship itself has signs of repairs made to it, so it had been in use before it became the grave of the viking chieftain.
The excavation itself shows the impression of the viking ship. The wood has disappeared, but the iron spikes and rings remain, as do the bones of the 11 horses and numerous dogs that were killed and put in the grave along with the chieftain, to give him a life in the next world as full of status and convenience as his life in this world had been.
The ship was 21.5 meters long and 3 meters wide, which was quite a sizeable ship for its time. A wooden hut or cabin had been built just aft of where the mast used to be, and the chieftain was put in it, along with the weapons, food, drink and valuables he would need. Then the ship was burned and when the fire had died out earth was put on top of it, creating the mound we see today, and a wooden fence was erected around the perimeter.
The viking ship was decorated in the dragon theme, which was a very popular theme for ships in the viking age. The iron curls on the back of the dragon head are still present in the excavation.
The entrance into the North side of the burial mound was created after the excavation in 1934 and the ensuing creation of a 30 meter in diameter concrete dome in place of the earth that had originally been used.
The whole area around Ladby is known to have been a lively viking community in viking age. The Ladbyskibet viking chieftain grave was not the only grave at the location, but the biggest of all the graves. Worth noticing is the fact that the mound had been broken into a few decades later, and the viking chieftain remains had been severely mutilated. There is speculation that this was a demonstration of force by a later chieftain.
In 2007 a new museum was finished at the location, Vikingemuseet or the Viking Museum. It is worth visiting, as it gives an excellent overview of viking life at the time of the Ladbyskibet burial and what the viking world looked like for its inhabitants. Note the present day colorful runic stone at the entrance to the museum ground. 

Through thousands of years weaving with natural materials has ensured human cheap tools, furniture and household utensils. In the Stone Age wild berries and nuts were gathered in baskets made of branches and brought home to the settlement. Home at the settlement the animals were locked behind a woven fence, and the huts were made of braided branches covered with mud.

One of the oldest physical evidence of weaving techniques, as we know it from our latitudes, is a trap found in the sea around Denmark and dated back to 5000 years BC. Identical traps have been used in Denmark up to 1950.

Most of the manufactured baskets were until the 1800s made by hand in the private houses of the peasant, who in the dark winter evenings wove himself a new firewood basket, or the fisherman who had worn his trap out, and had to weave a new one. As the German basket makers immigrated to Denmark at the beginning of the 1800s, a tradition of basketmaking as craft started. Since the baskets could not be produced by machine, it remained a craft in the strict sense.
When basketmaking was a trade, it required a high degree of accuracy, repetition and a high speed. The ability to support yourself as a basketmaker died out when Denmark in 1970 opened up for the import of baskets and furniture from Asia.

As a result of this commercial reality, we got a wealth of opportunities for play and experimentation in the craft. We do not need to be caught in traditional basketry, but has the freedom to create our very own expression. We are more people seeking to express ourselves more freely in special and individual baskets. When you technically has received a good workmanship, it makes you able to experiment and explore new avenues.

 All you need is the courage to play, nimble fingers and lots of patience.


Basketry is as old craft, traditionally represented in the form for storage and transportation. Apart from the wish to push female basketry to an edge and put the perception of wickerwork a new dimension feminine dresses grew up.

Usually basketry is associated with natural materials, but weaving techniques can also be performed in artificial recycled cables, as it worked out in the international project Recycled Cables - an international project created on the occasion of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. The idea of the project wass to work with what is left over when we have worn out our means of communication. Focus was chosen on electric cables from information technology, residual material from computers, TV sets and telephones. The spacious forms were challenged and the products turned out in one-, two-and three-dimensionals.
Basketsmaking has become a dynamic craft!